THE TERRORS OF THE WINTER. 267 



to the shrubberies and stackyards, forming for the 

 time being into one great commonwealth 

 rendered sociable by the one common mis- 

 fortune. 



Then comes the thaw. A week or a fortnight 

 has the snow-shroud lain on the ground, but much 

 of its pristine beauty has vanished, the impurities 

 of the atmosphere and the droppings of wild 

 creatures sullying and staining its dazzling surface. 

 The wind has shaken down the wreaths from trees 

 and underwood, and scattered some of the drifts ; 

 everywhere the once smooth and gleaming pall 

 has become disfigured by the footprints of animals 

 and by drops of water which have fallen from the 

 branches here and there as the snow melted in 

 the sun. Sometimes a sudden change of tem- 

 perature takes place, and a ground thaw soon 

 removes the snow ; at other times, the rise brings 

 rain, which quickly washes all away, and the 

 green fields, brown fallows, and gray woods 

 appear once more, looking very grimy and dirty 

 by force of contrast with what we have been 

 accustomed to see so long. Patches of snow 

 linger here and there by the hedges, and in the 

 corners of the fields in places shaded from the 

 sun ; but all eventually disappears, and the snow- 

 storm, with its terrors and hardships, becomes a 

 dismal dream of the past. The drains and ditches 

 pour the snow-water off the land into the brooks 

 and rivers, often flooding the low-lying meadows, 

 and then the various species of wild fowl con- 



